Sailor Saturn in the DigiWorld
by MSkitty543921
Summary: Hotaru, Sailor Saturn, hasn't transformed in years and has grown up with a normal childhood. However, at nine years old, she gets sent to summer camp to make some friends. What happened was she got sent to a whole new planet, a digital planet, with seven other kids who's destiny's are now intertwined with hers. Now if only they could learn teamwork Can she keep her identity secret
1. And So it Begins

I want one person to find out about Hotaru being Sailor Saturn at the beginning. Who do you want to discover first, I'm taking a vote, just send me a review or email.

Tai-0

Matt-0

Joe-0

Izzy-0

Mimi-0

Sora-0

TK-0

Kari doesn't get a vote since that person will find out before they go back home and meet Kari.

And So It Begins:

_That's home, planet Earth. But I'm not sure that's where I am right now. Okay, let me back up a little. It all began when the climate went completely out of control. The rainforest dried out and other places got totally flooded with oceans like chocolate sauce. And get this; places that were normally blazing hot in the summer got supper cold. At the time, I didn't know any of this was going on, because I was at camp. All of the other campers were, you know, goofing off and hanging out. Me? I was enjoying the summer sun….uh, going over my multiplication tables. That is, until it started to snow. In the middle of July! Totally freaky, and it gets weirder. You won't believe what happened to me and seven other kids. Oh, by the way, my name's Tai._

TAICHI 'TAI' KAMIYA was a Japanese schoolboy of eleven with large brown spiky hair and chocolate blue eyes. He held his hair up with a blue headband with a pair of goggles over it. He wore a pair of brown shorts, a blue shirt, large gloves covered his hands, and tennis shoes covered his feet. Tai was the hard headed soccer star jock.

_This is Sora. She's okay, for a girl._

SORA TAKENOUCHI was a Japanese schoolgirl of eleven with shoulder length red hair and reddish brown eyes. She wore a blue helmet on her head and a yellow tank top, blue jeans, gloves, and a pair of tennis shoes. Sora was a die-hard tomboy, soccer player, and yet a motherly figure for others.

_And Matt. Mat's too cool. Just look at that haircut!_

YAMATO 'MATT' ISHIDA was a Japanese schoolboy of eleven, with spiky blond hair and indigo colored blue eyes. He wore a green wife beater, gloves, jeans, and a pair of tennis shoes. Matt was the loner, harmonica player, although could be a great friend once trust was earned.

And this little kid is Izzy. He should have gone to computer camp.

KOUSHIRO 'IZZY' IZUMI was a Japanese schoolboy of ten with short spiky red hair and brown, almost black eyes. He wore a red shirt, orange short sleeve jacket, greenish pants, and a pair of sneakers. A computer sat on his lap and he was typing away. Izzy was a true computer genius, knowledge was his game.

_That's Mimi. I bet you can guess her favorite color on the first try._

MIMI TACHIKAWA was a Japanese schoolgirl of ten years old with long strawberry brown hair and big pretty bright brown eyes. She wore a large pink hat, a long pink dress, brown gloves, and brown boots, a large bag over her shoulder. Mimi, at first meeting, was a spoiled and princess like.

_TK is Matt's dopey little brother._

TAKERU 'TK' TAKAISHI was a small Japanese schoolboy of eight years old with messy blonde hair and indigo blue eyes. He wore a green helmet, green and yellow shirt, light pants and a pair of tennis shoes. TK was a little boy, often a crybaby, but hopeful and innocent as they came.

_This is Joe but don't ever scare him. He'd probably wet his pants._

JOE KIDO was a tall schoolboy of twelve years old with short blue hair brown almost black eyes, covered by wired framed glasses. He wore a white shirt, tan pants, and a pair of tennis shoes. Joe was a nerdy boy who was obsessed with his schoolwork.

_Oh, and then there's Hotaru Tomoe._

HOTARU TOMOE was a small girl of nine years old with short black hair that brushed against her chin, her eyes were the color of dark indigo, a more purple colored then the blonde haired brothers. She wore a short sleeve pink shirt and purple skirt and little white socks with black button shoes. But what nobody knew was that Hotaru had a secret, a secret nobody would know. She had two identities. One was Hotaru Tomoe, a regular Japanese schoolgirl full of innocence and brightness. But her second identity, was much stronger. That identity was Sailor Saturn, the fourteen year old super heroine that helped protect the planet with the other Sailor Scouts. Hotaru, a thousand years or so ago, was known as the princess of Saturn. But when her kingdom was destroyed, she was killed with the other princess' of the planets. Everyone, but those on Earth, was killed. But the queen of the moon, used the rest of her life energy to give her daughter, Princess Serenity, also know known as Sailor Moon or Serena Tsukino, and those of her court, like Hotaru, and Princess Serenity's love, and the children of the moon, to be reborn into a new life into the future of Earth. Now a thousand years later, Hotaru and the other Sailor Scouts were reborn into this lifetime. Hotaru used to be around twelve when she became Sailor Saturn, but because of something terribly locked inside her, she was forced to de-age into a newborn baby. She was raised again by her new adopted parents, Amara and Michelle, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, who before taking her in, had tried to kill her because she had the power to destroy a single planet with a wave of her hand, although they learned Hotaru had a heart of gold. Hotaru understood that when comes destruction, rebirth must happen. That was why Sailor Saturn was known as the scout of death and rebirth. Hotaru had an exhilarated growth rate and within months, she went from a newborn baby into a six year old. It was soon after this that she received her memories _again _so she could help defeat a new enemy. Hotaru finally stopped growing so fast and was naturally growing again, except when she transformed, then she would be fourteen. Now that Hotaru was nine, her adopted parents had allowed to send her to summer camp since she could make new friends. Hotaru didn't have any friends because she had the ability to heal without having to be transformed, so many people thought she was a freak for being able to help a scraped knee within seconds. But it was because of this gift, she met and befriended her only friend, Rini, Sailor Mini-Moon nowadays. Rini had to go back home, to the future of the thirtieth century, earlier this year. Nowadays, nobody but the Sailor Scouts knew that nine year old Hotaru Tomoe and fourteen year old Sailor Saturn, was one and the same. It had been three years since Hotaru needed to transform, but something was about to happen, something that would forever change not only her life, but the life of seven others.

_So there we were at summer camp, when suddenly, this huge blizzard came out of nowhere! Needless to say, the canoe races were canceled. So let's have toboggan races instead! _Tai rushed out of the cabin when the snow stopped, slowly followed by the others. TK ran to make a snowman while Matt chased after him to make sure he wouldn't trip and fall over the pounds of snow. It had to be at least two feet of snow. Hotaru wrapped her arms around her and shivered, running her frozen hands up and down her icy cold arms. Something wasn't right here. When did it snow around here in the middle of summer? It just wasn't possible. Maybe it was a new enemy? However, before her thoughts could wonder off too far, she, as well as the others, noticed some kind of lightshow made out of purple, green and blue lights playing in the sky. That couldn't be natural.

"It's beautiful, magical even," Mimi said, stunned. Hotaru couldn't help but agree with her. Luckily, Hotaru was no longer sick, like she had been in her first growth on Earth. Now she was much stronger. Before, snow like this would have already left her crippled but now, the worst she had was getting temporarily sick, instead of a lifetime sickness.

"Yeah," Tai also agreed.

"But what is it?" Izzy asked. Hotaru was wondering the same thing. What could it be? If it was a new enemy, could she help protect her cabin-mates without giving away her identity? Even though none of them got along, there was really no reason to let them die when she knew she could help in some way, anyway.

"Maybe an aurora?" Sora asked. Hotaru's friend Amy had briefly explained about that when she was tutoring her. But it couldn't be that, that only happened way up North, not where they were right now.

"You mean Aurora Borealis?" Izzy asked. "The Northern Lights? That's impossible. You see that in Alaska. We're way too far south," Izzy unknowingly agreed with Hotaru. Everyone probably thought she was mute or something since she'd haven't spoken once. Hotaru found no reason to speak to these people who she didn't know. It wasn't her fault, she was just shy around those outside the Scouts.

"Tell that to the snow," Sora huffed at Izzy, kicking at the snow with the tip of her shoe.

"I really think we ought to get back inside before we all come down with pneumonia," Hotaru agreed with Joe. Something was about to happen, only she didn't know what.

"And miss this?" Matt questioned. "The sky is like, short-circuiting!"

"Hey, what's that?" Tai asked, pointing at something in the lightshow. Hotaru followed his finger with her eyes, only for her eyes to widen as she saw seven red beams of light shaped like circles start to form. Then the beams of light shot straight towards them. Hotaru had no chance to even pull her transformation pen out of her pocket as the lights crashed into the snow around them, throwing the snow up into the air and temporary blinding them.

"Everyone, are you alright?" Sora asked as the snow settled down.

"We're still here," Matt said. Hotaru quietly climbed to her feet.

"That was scary," Mimi shivered. Hotaru looked at her and Mimi quickly turned away. She couldn't help it. It was just something about that little girl's eyes, and not just the odd coloring. It was something…as if Hotaru had lived a thousand life times, her eyes were far too old to fit on the face of such a young little girl.

"Wh…What was it?" Joe stuttered.

"Meteors?" Izzy guessed. "Okay, so it's not meteors," Izzy decided as the seven beams of light rose from the ground. Each child caught one as the light vanished to reveal a small digital device. Well, everyone except for Hotaru as there was only seven devices but eight children. Hotaru peaked over TK's shoulder to see, being that TK was the only one smaller than her.

"What are these?" Sora questioned. Hotaru could feel the light energy coming off them. Only someone like her could feel her, someone not normal. Normal humans would probably not be able to tell the difference.

"My guess is some sort of miniature remote digital apparatus," Izzy said, reminding Hotaru greatly of Amy, Sailor Mercury.

"No instructions?" Joe asked. Suddenly, Hotaru could hear something behind her, something like a large amount of rushing water. She could recognize the sound anywhere, being that Michelle was the scout of the ocean, using ocean water as her powers and drawing her strength from the water planet of Neptune.

"Forget the instructions, surf's up!" Tai cried. Hotaru spun around, automatically shifting into her fighting stance, one hand clenching the pen in her pocket. But then a large wave of water rushed over the children and they all screamed. Hotaru, being in the weak body of a child, considering all her true strength lasted in her other form, passed out, even though she was a good swimmer from all those time Michelle would take her to the pool or beach while Amara was at race training.

Hotaru woke up sometime later to find herself alone on the forest floor. She walked through the forest for about ten minutes when she came to a clearing. Tai, Izzy, and Sora stood there, three weird creatures at their feet. Hotaru looked at them, but could feel no evil aura from them, so she stepped out of the cover of the trees.

"I am enchanted to meet you, friends of Sora," the creature next to Sora said cheerily.

"Tai, Izzy, Hotaru, meet Yokomon, my own personal something-or-other,"

"What is it?" Hotaru said quietly, studying it with old eyes.

"Actually, I'm not sure," Sora admitted.

"You know, I think that's the first time I've heard you talk," Tai commented but Hotaru said nothing. "Anyway," Tai quickly turned from those dark eyes. "It looks kinda like a radish,"

"Must be another one of them, like the other…whatever they are," Izzy said, looking at the other creatures. That was when a small white creature ran up and sat next to Hotaru's foot. "They're popping up everywhere!" Izzy exclaimed.

"Hello, I am Tokomon," the creature said. "Hey, TK, over here!" he shouted and the blonde boy ran from the bushes, followed by Matt carrying an orange creature with a large horn sticking out of his head.

"Hey Matt, you too?" Tai asked.

"Yeah, I'm here too," Matt said, only Tai wasn't talking about that.

"No, I meant that! Under your arm!" Tai cried, pointing at the orange creature. They were unlike any creature Hotaru had ever seen before. Maybe if she could contact Trista-mama to find out. But she didn't have her communicator. She had left it in her bag in the cabin.

"Oh, this guy?" Matt said, clearly embarrassed. He reminded her of Lita when she's star struck and blushing over a guy who happened to look like her old crush, which meant most guys in Lita's definition.

"Hello, you appear pleasant," Tsunomon said. "Tsunomon is my name and I am quite pleased to meet you," Hotaru smiled softly as TK and his new friend Tokomon rolled around in the grass at their feet. Then she heard screaming and Joe raced from the forest, a creature with bright orange hair clinging to his shoulder. Hotaru kept her expression sullen and quiet, just watching the scene play out.

"Joe?" Tai asked surprised.

"Help me!" Joe wailed. "This thing, this thing…it won't leave me alone!"

"Hey, who are you calling a thing?" the creature demanded. "The name is Bukamon," the only thing all the creatures had in common was they had 'mon' at the end of their names. Joe screamed again, only to finally notice that they were all just watching him, looking at him weird, completely calm.

"Wha…what's wrong with you guys?" Joe stuttered. "Don't you see this creature hanging off me? And those creatures standing there? They're…they're everywhere!"

Hotaru quietly and gently tugged on his pants leg, getting his attention. "You need to calm down Joe, it isn't healthy to get so excited," Hotaru said quietly, eyes dark. Joe slowly nodded, feeling something weird…some sort of calmness over taking him just from the little girls stare.

Joe took a deep breath, "Wh…what are they?" he forced himself to ask.

"We're digimon, digital monsters," all six creatures. Digital monsters? Hotaru thought, she remembered reading something about digimon in an old history book back in the silver millinium but she had never seen or heard of a real one, they were just a myth, a kind of experiment that never got tested on or worked out right.

"Digital monsters?" Tai questioned.

"Yeah, digimon," all the digimon said.

"We're not just digital monsters," Koromon decided. "We're much more than that. We're…kinda cute,"

"And very loyal," was what Tsunomon said.

"With beautiful hair," Yokomon said.

"Or maybe no hair at all," Motimon said.

"We can be funny, ha!" Bukamon said loudly.

"And adorable," Tokomon finished.

"It's a pleasure to meet each of you," Tai said politely. "My name's Tai and these are my friends from camp. I'd like you to meet Sora,"

"Nice place you got here, except the bugs," Sora said. Hotaru hadn't seen a single bug while she's been here.

"And the self-proclaimed cool one over there is Matt," Tai continued.

"No autographs, please," Matt said.

"And this is Joe,"

"I'd shake hands if you had any," was what Joe stated.

"Izzy here's our computer expert,"

"Do you have internet access?" Izzy asked and it no doubt that would be the first thing he would ask.

"This little guy is,"

"TK, call me TK, and I'm not as small as I look,"

"And our quiet one is Hotaru," Tai finished introductions. Hotaru looked around and waved at the digimon before tugging on Tai's pants. He looked down at her with the same confused and surprised look Joe had given her.

"Mimi's not here," Realization filled Tai's eyes.

"That's right! I thought we were missing someone," Tai said.

"Well, perhaps she's off picking flowers," Izzy suggested. "Or going on a nature hike," that's when they heard Mimi's scream echo through the forest, a scream of agonizing fear. The humans and digimon didn't bother thinking, they ran to the screams. Tai and the others stomped through the forest, making much racket as they ran. Although Hotaru wasn't as fast considering her young age and shot legs, her steps were light, almost as if she wasn't even then, she didn't even ruffle a leaf or crack a branch. They reached a clearing, and saw Mimi running to them on the other side of the clearing, a small green digimon following behind her.

"There she is!" Sora cried loudly.

"Mimi, it's okay!" Tai called, assuming she was running from the digimon. Only Hotaru seemed to notice the giant red beetle digimon flying over the trees. "It's that big bug again!" Tai cried, finally noticing it. Hotaru analyzed the situation. Could they get out of this without her having to transform and give away her secret?

The digimon flew low before it flew off. Everyone surrounded Mimi as she fell to her knees breathing hard. "Mimi, are you alright?" the digimon, Tanemon, said.

"I think so," Mimi said.

"Don't worry, Tanemon's here to protect you," she said, reminding Hotaru of Diana, Rini's talking cat.

"It's okay now," Sora said, acting motherly and very much reminding Hotaru of her own mother, Michelle. Even though Michelle wasn't her birth mother, she might as well be.

"Oh, Sora!" Mimi wailed.

"Watch it, here he comes!" Tai cried as the digimon, Kuwagamon, came back into view.

"Run!" Sora cried. Everybody turned and raced into the forest. Once again, nobody realized how quietly, how quick, or how light Hotaru was on her feet. She had many, many years of training and being quick on your feet was the only way to survive. Then again, who would notice that when running from a giant bug bigger than you that's trying to eat you.

"Down!" Matt cried and Hotaru acted on instinct. When someone tells you to get down, its best you act before you think. Hotaru half covered TK's body, being slightly protective considering he was younger than her, at least younger than she currently was. The flying beetle flew over them, clearly and luckily missing. Hotaru could feel her short black hair ruffle in the wind he created, flying around her face.

"Will this nightmare never end?!" Joe wailed. "My mom is gonna want a complete and total refund!"

"Here he comes again!" Tanemon cried.

"Okay, that does it! No more running away!" Tai decided. It was that look in his eyes that gave Hotaru chills, and yet strength. It reminded her of Serena's eyes during one of their bigger battles, that look that marked her as their leader.

"What else can we do?" Sora asked.

"She's right, there's no way we can fight that thing!" Matt said. He was going by the rule, run away today so you can live to fight tomorrow, or something like that.

"Not and win, anyway," Izzy said and they were off again, only to stop when they reached a cliff. Hotaru had her hands clenched, very tempted to pull the purple pen out of her pocket.

"Great, anybody bring a helicopter?" Matt asked sarcastic. If Hotaru could transform, she could easily do that fall and jump her way down the cliff but she couldn't just leave the others. Hotaru would never leave another when she had a chance to save them.

"Be careful, Tai!" Sora said when Tai tried to look over the edge to see just how high up they really were.

"There's no way down," Tai decided. "We're going to have to find another way,"

"Another way where?" Sora demanded, but Kuwagamon came out of the bushes. Hotaru could feel his anger and desire for destruction rolling off him in waves.

"Watch out!" Sora cried as he attacked. Hotaru naturally shifted into her fighting stance. Even if she couldn't transform, she just couldn't give up, even if she was physically nine years old.

"Here I go!" Koromon bounced past me. Koromon blue bubbles into Kuwagamon's face, reminding Hotaru of Sailor Mercury's weakest and lest-used attack, however, it didn't seem to bother him. Then again, it wasn't near as much as Sailor Mercury's bubbles, only a small fraction.

"Digimon, attack!" Yokomon cried, they all blew bubbles into Kuwagamon's face, temporarily blinding him and sending him crashing into the forest. However, all the digimon were emotionally and physically drained, spread out across the cliff, weak and eyes closed. Hotaru watched as each other child ran to their digimon and picked up the tiny creatures, trying to wake them.

There was a scream as Kuwagamon came from the forest, angrier than ever. This wasn't good, was what Hotaru was thinking. She reached into one pocket and pulled out her pen, holding it with both hands and clutching it to her chest. She sent a silent pray to her planet. Nobody notice the faint purple symbol starting to glow on her forehead. Before she could say those four special words that would give her the strength to save the lives of these children, the digimon burst from their partner's arms, rushing at Kuwagamon.

"Koromon digivolve to…Agumon!" he shouted, transforming into a large purple dinosaur, now about face to shoulder with Hotaru.

"Yokomon digivolve to…Biyomon!" she shouted, transforming into a large pink feathered bird about the same height as Agumon, reaching Hotaru's shoulder's.

"Motimon digivolve to…Tentomon!" he transformed into a bug like digimon a little smaller than other two, it reminded Hotaru of an old lady bug she used to chase around her back yard when she was physically five.

"Tsunomon digivolve to…Gabumon!" he turned into a white furred creature, a little bigger than the others.

"Tokomon digivolve to Patamon!" he shouted, transforming into a slightly bigger creature but smaller than the others, wings growing out where his ears would normally be.

"Bukamon digivolve to…Gomamon!" he turned into a slightly bigger creature with white fur, his hair still bright orange, flippers were his hands or paws, however you look at it.

"Tanemon digivolve to…Palmon!" she turned into a larger creature made of green vines, a large pink flower growing out her head, looking like hair, only in flower form.

"Wow," Hotaru muttered, her skin changing back into its milky smooth form, no sign of a glowing symbol being on her forehead only seconds before, except that she was still gripping her transformation pen tightly in her hands.

"What the…look at them!" Sora stuttered. "What's happened to the little guys?!" they had changed, sort of like a power up, sort of like when Sailor Moon was just Sailor Moon, and then Super Sailor Moon, and Eternal Sailor Moon and Princess Serenity.

"They're…bigger," Tai said, still stunned.

The seven digimon ran at Kuwagamon put he threw them aside quiet easily. "Alright then, you asked for it!" Agumon said.

"Posion Ivy!" Palmon shouted, long vines growing from her arms and wrapping them around Kuwagamon so he couldn't move.

"Boom Bubble!" Patamon shouted.

"Super Shocker!" Tentomon shouted. The combine attacked made Kuwagamon take a step back, not realizing Gomamon was underneath him, causing him to fall over.

"Stand back, everyone!" Agumon warned. "Pepper Breath!"

"Blue blaster!" Gabumon shouted.

"Spiral Twister!" Biyomon shouted. The combined attacks hit Kuwagamon and he roared in anger.

"Now, all together!" Agumon shouted, using teamwork as the all attack, sending him flying into the forest.

"Amazing," Hotaru muttered under her breath, she'd never seen such strength and teamwork since her Sailor Scout days.

"They made vapor-ware out of him," Izzy said, just as amazed.

"Amazing!" Tai exclaimed, much better at showing his emotions than the other two.

"Told you we could do it!" Agumon exclaimed as him and his digimon friends raced to Tai and the others. Each ran to their human partner, leaving Hotaru alone, still clutching her power stick between her hands, clutched to her chest. However, their happiness was short lived as Kuwagamon burst through the forest again, angrier than ever. The digimon stabbed into the ground of the cliff, cracking it and making it crumble beneath the humans and rookie digimon's feet. They screamed as they fell to their impending doom. Hotaru cried out, clenching her stick in one hand, unable to do anything at this moment, overcome with fright.

_So just when we made some pretty cool friends, we all take a plunge. Never to see each other again? I don't think so._


	2. Greymon

-Some people have asked about Hotaru's digimon, well what I'm thinking is that Hotaru wasn't meant to go to summer camp, it was a split decision made by Amara and Michelle and her digimon wasn't with Genni when he rescued them as eggs in the show. Hotaru has had thousands of lifetimes, I'm saying that Hotaru's digimon was like…sealed away or something, waiting for the right time to come for her student to arrive. She was never supposed to become a digidestined but something went wrong and she was sent there. Hotaru will get her digimon later on in the show sometime, it might be around the second season or not, I'll have to think on it.

-I want one person to find out about Hotaru being Sailor Saturn at the beginning. Who do you want to discover first, I'm taking a vote, just send me a review or email.

Tai-1

Matt-0

Joe-0

Izzy-0

Mimi-0

Sora-1

TK-0

Kari doesn't get a vote since that person will find out before they go back home and meet Kari.

Birth of Greymon:

_So let me bring you up to speed. Me and the other seven kids were kicking back at summer camp when a freak snowstorm hits. All of us but one find these digivices and bam! The next thing you know, we're transported to this whacked out island. One by one, we make friends with these creatures who are known as digital monsters, or digimon. Everything was cool until Kuwagamon showed up. Our new friends somehow digivolved into bigger digimon and scared him off. Or so we thought. Talk about your cliffhangers!_

The children screamed in fear and terror as their fall came closer and closer to the river a hundred feet below them. "Sora!" Biyomon wailed.

"Izzy!" Tentomon cried.

"TK!" Patamon screamed. The three flying digimon tried to keep their child above but they weighed too much and they were falling again. Hotaru fell headfirst, her eyes squeezed shut, one hand curled around her stick transformation pen. Over her, Palmon used one vine to wrap around Mimi's waist, and the other to wrap around a boulder sticking out the cliff but the rocks crumbled and they kept falling.

Gomamon and Joe were the first to hit the water. "Fish net!" Gomamon shouted as they landed. A raft of hundreds of small fishes came together for them to float on. One by one, all the kids landed on the raft. Hotaru finally allowed herself to breath as she landed on the small slippery raft, small enough to hold eight kids and seven rookie digimon if they squeezed tightly together. Hotaru didn't let her stick leave her hand, unwilling to for fear that something else would happen. If gave her a sort of comfort, making her feel one with her mother planet, Saturn.

"Wow, this is some ride," Tai said. It sort of reminded Hotaru of the water park ride all the sailor scouts had went to last year to celebrate their second peace-from-earth's-destruction, celebration. She always wondered how much longer threats from other planet attacks would cease on earth, how long it would last before they would have to fight again? It was their duty, it would always be their duty, putting the earth's safety above their own happiness and safety. And somehow in the end, they stood strong together and won.

"Hey, look out!" Matt suddenly cried out. Above them, Kuwagamon still stood on the cliffs, but the rocks underneath him crumbled and he fell, bringing long jagged rocks that would surely crush them without fail.

The fish raft, obviously knowing of the danger, swum out of the way, as the boulders crashed into the river behind them. That caused huge gallons of waves to make them fly. They all screamed, clutching onto the raft as they were flung down the river.

Only minutes later, they were finally resting on the beach, safe…for now. "I knew we'd be okay, I wasn't worried," Matt said, oddly reminding Hotaru of Raye, Sailor Mars.

"Well what was that, a floating fish market?" Joe asked.

"Lucky for us, those fish were having a school reunion," Gomamon joked. "I'm kidding. Those fish are good friends of mine and I just asked them for a lift,"

"And all these years, I thought I was allergic to seafood, thank you! Uh, I guess it's not Bukamon," Joe suggested.

"Gomamon now," Gomamon said.

"And I guess that you're not Tokomon, are you?" TK asked.

"Now I'm Patamon," he corrected.

"It's all because we digivolved," Agumon explained.

"Digivolved?" Hotaru asked quietly.

"I don't think that word's in my dictionary," Tai said.

"So digivolving is what happens when they advance to the next level and become more powerful than before," Izzy guessed.

"Right!" Tentomon nodded. "All of os digivolved. I went from Motimon to Tentomon,"

"I digivolved from Yokomon to Biyomon,"

"First, I was Tsunomon, then Gabumon,"

"And I changed from Tanemon to Palmon,"

"And me, I was Koromon. I digivolved into Agumon,"

"So it's the next stage up," Hataru said, thinking how similar the power difference was between scouts and digimon, how they up in power.

"When you digivolved, you certainly got way bigger," Tai noticed. "Does that mean you're something different now, or are you still digimon?"

"Digimon, but I needed your help, Tai," Agumon said.

"Me, for what?" Tai asked stunned.

"You see, digivolving is a very difficult process. In order to be successful, I had to share your energy," Agumon explained. So, it was like how Serena needed the silver crystal to harness the powers and turn into Princess Serenity. Only the silver crystal is Serena's life force, if that is shattered then she could die.

"Really?" Tai asked.

"I guess you guys don't run on batteries," Sora said.

"Sure don't," Biyomon smiled.

"But how do you access my energy?" Izzy asked curiously, probably a question Amy would be wondering as well. She'd only been there for a few hours and already missed them like crazy.

"Even we don't know everything," Tentomon said.

"Thanks for my magical power!" Palmon grinned.

"The whole thing makes my head spinny," Mimi said, completely confused.

"So, I help you change! That is so cool!" TK said excited, a wide grin.

"Yep, sure is," Palmon said.

"My folks warned me about strangers," Joe huffed, crossing her arms.

"I'm not a stranger, Joe. I'm your friend for life," Gomamon grinned.

"Okay, come on!" Matt said loudly, getting everyone's attention. "What are we going to do?"

"If only there was a payphone nearby," Joe said. "we could call the police, or fire department, or my mother,"

"That's not going to help us if we don't know where we are," Hotaru said in her normal soft tone.

"But we know where we started, up there on that mountain," Sora said, pointing at the cliff.

"We can't climb that," Hotaru said worried, she was physically still weak although it wasn't as severe as before she became a sailor scout, there was still a possibility something could happen and she may have a relapse.

"She's right, we should just forget about going back and explore around here," Matt decided.

"I'm not exploring anywhere, I say we stay right where we are!" Joe decided.

"That works if your lost in a mall but lost in a forest and you have no idea how you got here, it doesn't work," Hotaru said quietly. Her voice was soft, but everyone could hear it like an echo.

"We can't just wait for that giant bug to come get us, we need to find a road leading someplace to get away from here," Matt said.

"Matt's right," Izzy agreed. "But without a compass, we don't even know which way is North,"

"Wait, I do," Tentomon called.

"Well, which way is it?" Izzy asked.

"It's the opposite of south," Tentomon said, Izzy groaned.

"I shouldn't wear these pants, they ride up when I do a lot of walking," Joe randomly complained, crossing his arms.

"Y' know, if we could get back to where we were before, we might at least find some clues as to why we're here in this place," Sora said, still trying to convince them. There was no way Hotaru could make it up a couple feet of that cliff in this fragile body. She'd easily be able to do it as Saturn but it wasn't like she could transform in front of them.

"Wait, are there more monsters around like that big flying beetle?" Mimi suddenly asked.

"Yes indeedy," Palmon said and Mimi put on a grossed out face.

"Those monsters don't scare me!" Matt lied.

"Are there humans?" Tai asked.

"Human's, others like you?" Agumon asked and Tai nodded. "You're the first ever. There's never been anything but digimon," Hataru looked confused, so a human had never been there, maybe that was why the air and water was so clean, the trees so bright, there was no pollution.

"So, okay, you're all digimon, but what about these monsters?" Tai asked. "They're all digimon, too?"

"It's creepy, and dangerous," Sora said. Hotaru looked down, Sora had no idea what true fear or hopeless was. Hotaru had been there far too many times then she could count. "What happens when it gets dark?"

"Who says it ever gets dark here?" Matt suggested.

"That phenomenon would be unnatural," Izzy said.

"And you call this natural?" Joe asked.

"So what's the plan?" Hotaru asked quietly, they couldn't just sit there and wait for whatever to come and attack.

"Well," Tai said. "We're not going to find out anything by sitting around here," he said and started walking, followed by Agumon. Hotaru silently followed behind. Maybe it was that look in his eyes or his sense of taking charge, but something made her want to follow him, like she did with Serena, although Hotaru would give her life to protect her princess, and any human or animal if she can.

"Where do you think you're going?" Matt interrupted, refusing to move.

"Up on the cliff," Tai said. "That's where I saw the ocean," Hataru winched, she'd just wait at the bottom and they can come back for her if they found anything. Or she could transform while they're gone, go up the cliff, then hide in the forest to transform back and tell them she found a different better way up.

"The ocean?" Matt asked skeptic.

"Yep, there might be a boat or something," Tai said.

"Let's waterski home," Matt said.

"Ugh, funny," Sora groaned.

"At a time like this, I think we'd be better off just to find a cave and hide," Joe decided, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. "We keep our eyes open and when a camp counselor comes," Joe didn't realize that the group was already walking away until Gomamon called back to him and he had to run after them.

"These trees are beautiful," Sora commented as they walked along the shore.

"No human's means no pollution means everything's cleaner," Hotaru said quietly, next to her.

"That's true, Hataru," Izzy nodded pleased. "I just thought they were sub-tropical,"

"Whatever they are, they're aggravating my hay fever," Joe complained.

"Hey, Joe, is there anything you don't complain about?" Matt joked and Gabumon laughed.

"Digital monsters," Izzy commented. "Exactly who came up with that name, anyhow?" and Hataru thought, beautiful scout in a sailor suit, was bad enough. It's embarrassing seeing people she knows and having to fight in such a short skirt, but luckily, nobody would recognize her unless she tells them or they see her transform. It's because of her tiara, sort of like a magical disguising veil, that stops anybody from discovering the truth.

"Just call us digimon," Tentomon corrected. "We like that,"

"I only ask because your composition isn't at all machine like," Izzy explained.

"Oh, really?" Tentomon asked. Tentomon created a ball of electrical energy between his wings, making Hotaru painfully reminded of Lita, Sailor Jupiter, the scout of protection and strength, drawing her lightning and electrical powers from the planet of Jupiter.

"Hey, watch it!" Izzy cried, holding his hands up in defense.

"So, Patamon, can you really fly?" TK asked, walking just ahead of Hotaru.

"Of course!" Patamon said, lifting himself off of TK's helmet covered head and with his eyes squeezed tightly shut, he started to fly although he was struggling, TK was faster walking than he did flying.

"Wow, that's cool, but you're going the wrong way," TK said.

"I'm faster than that," Biyomon said, going into the air. She was faster than Patamon but everyone easily walked passed them.

"Wouldn't it be faster to walk?" Sora asked. Hotaru just hoped they would get stronger over time, everyone grew and change as life went on, it just took time.

"Palmon, I've been meaning to ask, who does your hair?" Mimi asked, to Hotaru's side, to Palmon.

"It's natural, I wake up in the morning like this," Palmon explained.

"Wow!" Mimi exclaimed, reminding Hotaru quickly of Mina, Sailor Venus, in a shoe sale. "Maybe you could let me work with it?"

"Do you think you put too much emphasis on appaance?" Palmon asked.

"Well, honestly, I've never really thought about it," Mimi confessed surprised.

"Honestly, I kinda like my hair the way it is," Palmon said.

In the front, leading the group, "Once I get back, this is gonna make one great story," Tai said.

"Yep," Agumon agreed smiling.

"But of course, not a single soul will believe me," Tai said.

Further back, "That Kuwagamon back there…he was huge," Izzy said.

"And he's not the only one," Tentomon reminded him.

"Hey, let's build a sandcastle!" TK suddenly exclaimed as they stopped on the beach. "Hotaru, come help!" TK exclaimed, grabbing the girl's hand, the one who was closest to his age. Hotaru looked at him and his wide happy grin surprised. Nobody had ever just came up to her wanting to play, she was a loner, even after she got her memories back. Only this time, it was at school, she had a family when she got home.

"Oh, I forgot my bathing suit," Mimi pouted.

"Wait a minute, listen!" Matt cried before everyone could run off. "What's that?" Hotaru's ear twitched. She could clearly hear something in the distance, a sort of…ringing?...sound.

"A phone!" Tai cried, recognizing the familiar noise.

"Either that or we're all hearing things," Sora said and they were off, all running to the noise. Hotaru ran naturally, quick on her feet and quiet to, only a small indent in the sand where she stepped on the tip of her toes was any proof that she was there, her small steps surrounded by larger full shoes prints.

Further up the beach, a row of eight telephone booths were in a row, one of them held a ringing phone. "I told you!" Joe exclaimed as they kept running to the phone. "All we needed was a phone! We're saved!" Tai reached it first and pulled the door open, only for the ringing to stop.

"Why'd it stop ringing?" Agumon asked.

"Wrong number?" Tai suggested, shrugging.

"Well, that's bizarre," Sora stated.

"My theory is aliens, they've set these phone booths out as a trap," Izzy was insisted that it was aliens that brought them there. Hotaru had fought against aliens before, this just didn't seem like their style. "

"If we can find a place that delivers, let's order pizza," Matt half joked.

"Whatever you get, no anchovies for me," Mimi said.

"I'm allergic to pineapple," Hotaru said quietly, doubting they were getting pizza.

"The question is what are these doing here at the beach?" Sora questioned.

"So people can call their parents for a ride home!" Joe exclaimed.

"Parents?" Gomamon asked. "What exactly is a _parents?"_ all eight children stared at the digimon, how does one not know what parents are?

"That's it, I'm outta here," Joe said, seemingly forgetting that they had no idea where they currently were.

"Does anybody have any loose change?" Tai asked.

"Why?" Izzy asked. For the smarter one in the group, that question was pretty dumb.

"Obviously, I'm gonna make a phone call to get some help," Tai said in a 'duh' voice.

"Use my phone card, the aliens can bill me, here," Izzy handed him his phone card.

"Maybe there's a quarter in one of the slots!" TK said, rushing off to one of the booths, Matt following.

"I'm calling daddy!" Mimi wailed, rushing into one of the empty booths.

"I'm hooking up to the internet," Izzy said, pulling out his computer and its cord.

"I'm calling collect," Matt said, opening one door for himself and TK.

"Dibs on booth four," Sora said, rushing into said booth.

"Hey guys, wait for me!" Joe cried, rushing to his own booth. Hotaru quietly walked to the empty booth and got to her tip toes, trying to reach the phone. How she hated to be short at times like this.

"Hey, Hotaru," Tai said from the booth to her right. He reached in and handed her the phone before returning to his own booth and dialing a number. Hotaru started dialing the memorized number of her Amara-papa.

"Hello? Hey mom, it's me!" Tai cried.

"At the tone the time will be exactly forty five miles per hour and ninety seconds," the operator said.

"Something's wrong or mom's flipped," Tai said.

In the next booth over, Mimi was listening to her own weird answer, "Tomorrow's forecast calls for clear skies with occasional ice cream,"

"What do you wear for that?" Mimi asked confused, not realizing that ice cream wasn't actually going to fall from the sky.

Meanwhile, in the booth over to the right, Matt and TK had just finished dialing. "This number only exists in your imagination. Please hang up and don't call back," the operator said.

"What planet did I dial?" Matt asked confused.

"Amara-papa, Michelle-mama?" Hotaru asked when the ringing on her phone stop.

"No child left behind, so please hang up so we have time to help the lost children," the operator said.

"But I am lost," Hotaru huffed.

"I'm telling you, it's a twisted alien joke," Izzy said.

"Why don't you try that one over there?" Tentomon asked, pointing at the only empty one left.

"I don't think it's any better," Biyomon said in the next booth with Sora.

"No telephones are working in your service area. Hang up and have a nice day," Sora huffed and hung up the phone.

"Any luck?" Tai asked as he left his booth.

"No," Sora said.

"Weird, I got a strange feeling about this," Joe said.

Fifteen minutes later, everybody was sitting and relaxing along the beach. Everybody but Joe, that was. "Maybe this one will," Joe said, dialing another number.

"To leave a message, press one now. To leave a fingerprint, press two now. Fifteen dollars for the next three minutes,"

"Okay, next one," Joe decided.

"Very curious," Izzy said to the others. "Does Joe always behave like this?"

"Every single day," Tai said. Joe definitely had to be an individual, going in the complete panic that he was.

"No matter what number, or how many times he dials, those phones aren't gonna work," Matt said.

"Well," Tai stood. "I'm gonna keep searching for a boat or something,"

"Hey, wait a minute," Matt stood, starting another argument. They reminded Hotaru so much or Raye and Serena, it wasn't funny. "Even though we can't call out of here, there's still a chance someone else might be able to call in to us,"

"It's a waste of time doing nothing but sitting here," Tai argued.

"I'm going to stay here and wait for a little while and see if anyone calls," Matt decided. "Besides, everybody could use a little rest," at those words, Hotaru realized how tired she was and forced back a yawn. TK, Mimi, Palmon, and Patamon were just about to fall asleep.

"And I'm getting pretty hungry, too," Izzy said. Hotaru's stomach started to growl and she felt really weak but she knew she couldn't fall asleep or she could end up in a coma like she did for a week last year when she missed breakfast and was late for school and had to study during lunch so she couldn't eat.

"You know why?" Tai realized. "Because we haven't eaten everything all day. Okay, break time, everybody!" Hotaru dug in her pocket and unknowingly to the others, forced down some of her medicine without water. It would make sure she could last a little longer. Michelle-mama started making her carry the bottle around for emergencies.

"Does anybody else have any food?" Sora asked. "I think the only thing I have is…it's that gadget that fell out of the sky at camp!" True, Sora had that gadget clipped onto the loop on the back of her pants.

"I forgot all about those weird gizmos," Tai said, pulling his own digivice off his belt loop. Hotaru, not having a device, settled for looking at TK's that was strapped to his book bag strap.

"If anybody's got a pink one, I'll trade," Mimi offered, looking at the purple device clipped to her bag strap on her shoulder.

"What are they, anyway?" TK asked. Hotaru wished Amy was here, she may be able to figure it out.

"If I could take mine apart," Izzy said, pulling his off his strap and studying it. He stopped when he was cut off by a loud growl. "Ummmm, that is after I get something to eat. I'm really famished,"

"Well, the only thing I've got is my emergency supplies. It's got a first aid kit, some bandages, and some medicine but that's about all I've got," Sora said. All Hotaru had with her been her medicine and her transformation pen.

"I have my trusty laptop computer, and a digital camera. Oh, and I've got a small cell phone, too. Of course, none of them has worked since we got here." Izzy said.

"I can't believe you dragged all that computer stuff to summer camp!" Tai exclaimed.

"And what do you have?" Izzy demanded.

"Uhhh….let's see," Tai dug around in his pockets but only pulled one thing out. "There's my mini-telescope," and one couldn't eat a telescope.

"Sorry," Matt apologized. "But I don't have anything to eat, either,"

"Hey, look at what I got, check it out!" TK gave a cheeky grin and pulled open the zipper of his bag, where he had a collection of chips completely filling the bag.

"Wow, look at all those goodies!" Mimi knelt down in front of TK. "Why don't you be a good little boy and share those trears with dear, sweet Mimi?"

"You don't have to be so nice, Mimi," TK smiled. "I'm happy to share. You're the best. Isn't she cute?" he asked his brother.

"Forget it!" Matt turned away embarrassed.

"I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse!" Tai exclaimed loudly.

"I'd settle for a small cow," Izzy said.

"Mimi, what have you got in that big bag?" Sora asked, now feeling better now that she knew they didn't have to worry about food just yet.

"Uhh…let's have a look," Mimi said, digging through her bag. "Here's a compass, cooking fuel, flashlight, one of those knives with all the things, and some other stuff."

"Why didn't you tell us you had a compass back when we needed one?" Matt asked, seeing the compass Mimi held, pulling it from her bag.

"I thought it might be fun to see how far we could get without one," Mimi said with a wide smile. "Besides, it's broken,"

"Well, so much for finding our way out of here," Tai sighed.

"…TK, can I have a bag of chips?" Hotaru asked quietly, not willing to admit she didn't feel well.

"Sure, Hotaru!" TK said, handing her a bag which she quickly dug into, sitting down on the sand beneath her.

"Although, we could use the cooking fuel to make a signal fire," Matt suggested.

"But we haven't seen an airplane," Hotaru said quietly, chewing on another chip.

"But just in case, we could always barbecue some telephones." Sora suggested.

"Oh boy, check the genius," Tai laughed, seeing Joe still dialing at the phones, getting more and more frantic with each call. "He's trying to call the telephone repair man because the telephones don't work. Problem is…" Tai trailed off and his eyes widened. Hotaru wondered briefly what had happened to get such a reaction. "Look! Joe's got the emergency food!" Oh, that was probably a good reason for the reaction. Over Joe's shoulder was the large bag with a red cross on the flap.

"No way!" Izzy exclaimed. Hotaru was still hungry, although those chips she'd just finished helped considerably.

"Joe! Hey, Joe," Tai shouted, trying to get his attention. "Look, you've got all the food!"

"Hey! Don't you know it's rude to interrupt someone when they're on the telephone?!" Joe shouted, looking at them over his shoulder.

"But that bag…" Izzy tried.

"This?" Joe asked surprised. "I just brought it to give to Mimi. Today was her turn to carry the bag!"

"Think he likes ya," Palmon grinned, sitting between Hotaru and Mimi.

"No way!" Mimi exclaimed with a look of disgust as Joe carried the heavy bag over to them.

"Mimi," Joe said firmly. "You have got to stop thinking of yourself and do something to help somebody else for once! Take a little responsibility!"

"But…that bag's too heavy for me!" Mimi cried.

"Listen, you never hear me complaining," Joe argued.

"Guys, guys!" Tai called over them, getting everyone's attention. "Listen, the most important thing now is that we've got some food to eat. So let's sit down and have some lunch!" Everyone quickly agreed, very much liking this plan.

"Okay, let's figure this out," Joe said as everybody got into a circle. "There are eight people in the group times three days, times three meals, that come to…." He stopped to think.

"Seventy two meals," Izzy easily did the calculations in his head.

"Uh, right," Joe agreed. "So, split evenly between us, we have uh…"

"Enough food for two days," Izzy answered.

"Right!" Joe exclaimed, more trusting. "Oh, exactly," he said more quiet. "I guess you knew that,"

"But you guys, when you add in the digimon, we really only have enough for about twenty minutes," Sora said.

"Oh, that's right…" Joe said depressed. It was pointless doing all that thinking.

"Not a problem at all," Gabumon insisted. "We digimon hunt and forage for ourselves,"

"No need to include us in your calculations," Tentomon said.

"You sure, Biyomon?" Sora asked concerned.

"Oh absolutely!" Biyomon insisted. "We can do alright for ourselves," It was sort of how people thought Hotaru, as Sailor Saturn, looked the weakest because of her being physically smaller than the others, probably tied with Sailor Mini-Moon. However, the truth was Hotaru was the strongest, some say she's tied with Sailor Moon, or Sailor Pluto.

"Okay," Joe continued pleased. "Now that that's taken care of, let's go ahead and divide this between the eight people here,"

"This is great," Tai suddenly said from behind the group. "I could eat a dozen of these!" Hotaru looked over her shoulder and was extremely annoyed and it showed on her face, surprising for someone who is so sullen and expressionless unless she's with her fellow Sailor Scouts.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Joe demanded.

"I'm glad we never hear you complaining," Tai said annoyed.

"You people make me crazy!" Joe huffed. However, Hotaru heard something, some kind of roar, in the distance. She spun around, shifting into her fighting stance, "Now what's the matter?" Sora asked, annoyed and confused.

"Trouble," was what Biyomon said. Then, a column of water shot into the air, completely shattering the telephone booths into pieces. Seven of the kids screamed and ran. Hotaru wouldn't have moved, had Sora not grabbed her wrist and tugged her over to the cliff's with the others.

"What's that?" Tai asked. His question was answered when a huge shell, on the back of a large pink snail looking creature, rose from the ocean and walked, or whatever snail's did, onto the beach.

"Shellmon!" Tentomon exclaimed.

"Shellmon?" Hotaru muttered under her breath. Maybe they could get out of this one without Hotaru having to transform. They did survive Kuwagamon and a fall from a sixty foot cliff.

"What's a Shellmon?" Izzy asked, his natural curiosity coming through.

"Something that gets mad for no reason," Tentomon explained.

"Attacked by two digital monsters in the same day! And doesn't Shellmon know I'm allergic to shellfish?" Joe complained. Maybe Amy's mom, or even Amy herself, could help him with all those allergies he's always complained about. Joe tried to climb the cliff but Shellmon blew a jet of water and knocked him down.

"Joe!" Gomamon cried. Hotaru quietly put a hand on Joe's scraped elbow and made it look like she was helping him up. When she let go and turned around, Joe, not that he or anybody else noticed, his elbow was free of any bruises or scars or scrapes, completely healed.

Shellmon attacked again and Gomamon was flung back. Agumon, Gabumon, Biyomon, and Tentomon started to attack to defend themselves and their human friends. "Digimon, attack!" Agumon cried, acting as leader.

"Agumon, you showed him!" Tai cheered him on.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon attacked.

"Blue Blaster!" Gabumon cried.

"Spiral Twister!" Biyomon wailed.

"Super Shocker!" Tentomon shouted. Agumon's fireball hit Shellmon in the face and he jumped back. However, the other's attacks just…fizzled out halfway to him.

"What's happening to them?" Izzy asked surprised. Hotaru narrowed her eyes, the digimon, they looked exhausted. What was wrong?

"They look like they've lost their powers," Matt said worried. Shellmon attacked again and blew the digimon back.

"Agumon!" Tai cried.

"Boom Bubble!" Patamon cried.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon shouted. However, their attacks also failed miserable. Shellmon knocked Patamon out of the air and flung Palmon to the ground. Agumon stepped up to protect his friends and shot another fire ball that hit Agumon in the face.

"Why are they so much weaker?" Hotaru asked. Something wasn't right but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Why is it only Agumon?" Izzy questioned.

"We're just too hungry," Tentomon moaned.

"That's it!" Hotaru gasped, eyes widening. She hadn't thought of that. Of course the digimon would be hungry after the day they've had. "Only Agumon's ate!"

"Now I see!" Izzy exclaimed.

"Then the other digimon don't have enough strength left to fight," Matt realized.

Hearing this, "Agumon!" Tai cried. "Looks like it's just you and me now!"

"Then give me a diversion!" Agumon cried.

"Hey, Shellmon!" Tai shouted, getting his attention. "Over here!"

"Tai!" Hotaru cried, surprising people briefly from the loudness in her voice. Tai, however, ignored her and grabbed a long pole from the broken telephone booths and stabbed Shellmon.

"This'll work!" Tai exclaimed. Tai cried out as one of the long vines growing from Shellmon grabbed around his waist, pinning his arms to his side. Hotaru looked horrified. How could she help her new friends? Wait, were they her friends? Shellmon stepped on Agumon, pinning him to the sand.

Then there was a bright light coming from somewhere near Tai, and Agumon started to grow. "Agumon digivolve to…Greymon!" he transformed into a large orange dinosaur, like a tyrannosaur, as taller and big as Shellmon. Shellmon dropped Tai to the ground surprised.

Shellmon threw a stream of water at Greymon who blocked it with a blast of fire. It was a battle, Fire VS. Water. In Hotaru's mind, that was Raye, scout of fire and passion, verses Amy, scout of water and wisdom.

"Digi-nova blast!" Greymon shouted, lifting Shellmon into the air and throwing him into the sea and blasting a fire blast. Now that the battle was over, Greymon sunk into Agumon. He was okay, and everyone sat the digimon down to eat. Hotaru and Sora was fussing over them, making sure they weren't hungry. They needed to be kept feed or who knows, they could be killed next time. But next time, maybe Hotaru would get the chance to transform without giving away her secret.

Joe was sitting by the destroyed phone booths, talking into one of the phones he managed to dig up. "Hello? Come on, I know your there! Operator? Operator!" Joe pleaded.

"There's really no reason to stay here now," Tai decided.

"Who wants to break the bad news to Joe?" Matt asked, finally going along with Tai's plan to leave.

"Shellmon wasn't destroyed," Izzy stated. "He was just temporarily removed,"

"And he's going to be madder than ever when he comes back," Hotaru said, going back into her quiet tone.

"We should pack up and leave before he decides he wants to come back for round two," Izzy finished.

"Good idea," Matt said.

"In that case, we should go right back to the forest," Joe finally came over, giving up on the phones. "Because if anybody's looking for us, that's the place they'll go!"

"Joe, I said this before," Sora said firmly. "We fell off a cliff and floated back down a river to get here. And getting back there's a really big job,"

"And we could run into Kuwagamon!" Mimi said, voicing her own concerns.

"Now listen," Izzy started. "Logically speaking, if there are telephones here, then there must be people to use them. So, I think it makes good sense to try and find those people."

"That makes sense," Joe said.

"It certainly does," Sora said.

"Ok," Hotaru said quietly, messing with her sleeve.

"Then let's all get going!" Tai declared.

"Anywhere you want to go, I'll go, Tai," Agumon said. "You just pick the direction.

"Then let's get outta this place!" Tai decided, randomly pointing in the opposite direction from where they came from.

"And let the monsters beware," Matt gave a teasing grin.

"Well my plan is to avoid all monsters. Yep, that's my plan," Joe decided although Hotaru had a feeling that wouldn't be as easy as it sounds.

"OK, here we go!" Tai smiled widely as they started to walk.

"Digimon!" the digimon randomly cried, making the group of humans and digimon laughed. Although they were all together, they were yet truly united to work as one, far too different with their own insecurities. But as Hotaru followed the group behind, the sun shining down on her, she thought that maybe this, being here in some foreign place with a group of kids she barely know, wouldn't be so bad.


	3. Garururmon and a Scout of Rebirth

Please Vote: Who will discover Hotaru's secret first?

Tai-1

Matt-0

Sora-1

Mimi-0

TK-0

Joe-0

Izzy-0

Garurumon and Sailor Saturn Makes the Scene:

So there we were, falling like crazy! That's when Gomamon tells all the fish in the river to swim close together and make a boat for us. Later, we find a beach with a whole bunch of these phone booths. We try to call home but none of them seemed to work. Next, we got totally trashed on by Shellmon! He sprayed seawater like a firehose! My bed, Agumon, got stepped on. That made him mad! He digivolved into Greymon and gave Shellmon a ride he won't forget, then he turned back into Agumon. Dudes, this place is wild!

Currently, our eight chosen children were standing on a cliff that overlooked the sea. Hotaru was clearly reminded of her Amara-papa and Michelle-mama, while standing up on this cliff and it made her feel homesick. Tai almost falling over the edge broke Hotaru out of her thoughts, but Agumon grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back. The other children laughed, and it was good to laugh after everything they've been through. None of these children knew it was just going to get worse but it wouldn't matter, because as long as they had each other, they would survive. But of course, they need to learn to work together as a team, first.

At that moment, there was a roar behind them. A roar that belonged to a digimon that looked sort of like a rhino, horn and all. "Who's that digimon?" Izzy asked, his curious nature coming through.

"It's a monochromon," Tentomon explained this time. "But don't worry about him, he's a laid back digimon. Although it is wise to be a bit cautious with a monochromon. They do tend to get a bit miffed when they're hungry,"

"Then he must be starving because he looks really mad!" Tai exclaimed.

"Oh no, I think he wants to eat us!" Mimi wailed. There was another roar behind them and a second Monochromon joined the party.

"There're two of them!" Matt gasped. "We're caught between a roar and two sets of teeth!"

"Come on, it's not safe here!" Hotaru said, louder than normal, getting more and more comfortable with this new group of kids. The older kids and TK listened to her and they all went running to hide behind a boulder as the two monochromon's attacked each other.

"Something must have set those Monochromon off," Tai noted.

"They're fighting over territory," Tentomon explained.

"That explains it," Hotaru muttered under her breath.

"They can just have it then!" Palmon ran off screaming.

"Hey, don't leave without me!" Mimi ran after her crying.

"They definitely don't need us hanging around!" Tai said while everyone started running towards the forest. TK tripped and cried out as he fell face first in the ground.

"Come on, TK," Hotaru immediately stopped and helped him up.

"Hurry up, you two!" Matt and Tai shouted.

"Kay, we're coming!" TK called, and the two youngest members of the group ran after them as the two monochromon's fell off the edge of the cliff and hit the ocean.

A few minutes later, everyone was walking through the forest only it wasn't a normal forest. It had at least ten road sides pointing in different directions on _every _tree that they past.

"I don't walk this much unless I'm at a mall," Mimi complained. "And as you can see, we're nowhere near one!"

"Mimi, stop whining," Tai said.

"No, my feet hurt!" Mimi snapped.

"Mimi, this is just like a mall," Hotaru said quickly, trying to keep the peace. "Only without the shops and all the people," Mimi wasn't buying it.

"Maybe if you'd take off your boots and socks, you'd feel better, Mimi, it's much more practical, I think," Agumon suggested.

"I'm not walking and dirtying my bare feet!" Mimi cried, as if it the worst thing possible.

"I love the feel of dirt under my feet," Palmon said, Mimi's opposite in every way. "Especially between my toes,"

"Gross!" Mimi cried.

"It appears that we may be losing our light source," Izzy interrupted as he saw the sun going down.

"What a weird sunset," Sora commented.

"I think it's pretty," Hotaru said. It was different but different wasn't always a bad thing. Remember, this was Hotaru we were talking about, the girl who could heal a scape or bruise with a single touch, or destroy a single planet with a wave of her hand.

"This whole island is weird," Izzy said. "And who knows what will be coming out at night."

"Wait," Tentomon interrupted. "Stay here while I check it out!" Tentomon flew into the trees and called down, "Yes, as usual, I'm right. It's a lake with fresh, clean water and a variety of tasty fish. It's a perfect campsite!" Hotaru lightened up. She always enjoyed the summers when all the scouts would get together to go camping at an old log cabin in the woods that Michelle's family owned.

Gomamon tried to run to the shore of the beach but Joe grabbed his tail, causing him to fall over. "Gomamon! You'd better wait and make sure it's safe first!"

"That why I think we should keep walking and stop all the complaining," Matt tried.

"But we'll need to find someplace to sleep before the sun goes down and this spot is as best as any other," Hotaru said quietly.

"And everyone's hungry, we have to find some food," Tai said, playing leader again.

"This is a good plan, I like that plan a lot," Joe nodded. Everyone gathered around in a circle on the shore.

"It should be safe to rest here tonight," Biyomon said.

"Yeah, I love camping outside," Sora said.

"This could be fun," Hotaru stated. "I go camping every summer with my parents and sisters," yes, Hotaru said sisters. After all they've been through, the scouts were more like an extended family, and all of them were Hotaru's sisters. Well Trista, Sailor Pluto was like an aunt, and Amara was like her dad and Michelle was her mom.

"If I won't walk in dirt, what makes you think I'll sleep in it?" Mimi demanded, as if she had much of a choice.

"Mimi, do you see a hotel here?" Tai asked. Suddenly, Mimi gasped. Behind them, a trolley car they hadn't noticed, the headlights suddenly flashed on.

"What's that?" Tai asked surprised.

"It looks like a trolley car," TK said, glaring into the lights.

"That's odd, the lights just came on," Izzy said.

"Well maybe there are some real people in there," Sora suggested.

"Let's check it out!" Tai said and everybody was running towards it. Surprisingly, Mimi was the first to make it in. However, the trolley car was completely empty.

"Bummer, it's empty," Tai huffed.

"Totally empty," Sora agreed.

"But how did the lights suddenly turn on?" Hotaru asked, studying the buttons and controls at the wheel. Maybe it was a malfunction or something.

"No trolley car's this clean," Izzy noted, looking under the seats.

"Oh goodie," Mimi said, collapsing on one of the seats. "These cushions are comfy!"

"Something's wrong," Tai said, getting everyone's attention. "Remember those weird phone booths we saw on the beach? Something just as freaky could happen here,"

"Like we have seen these machines but no people," Hotaru mused.

"Or like this suddenly moving all by itself," Joe said.

"Possibly," Tai nodded. "But then again, maybe that's how we're going to get home,"

"So we have nothing to lose by staying here," Sora said.

"Oooh," Tentomon interrupted. "Can we eat now?"

"That's right, I forgot," Tai said.

Minutes later, Izzy and TK were sitting on the shore, Izzy holding a makeshift fishing pole, but Gomamon was swimming in their fishing area.

"Gomamon, stop playing in the water!" Izzy said. "I can't catch any fish if you keep on warning them away!"

"In the woods, some of the digimon was collecting fruit from the trees. Patamon was sitting on Agumon's head and used a boom bubble to knock a thing of banana's out of the tree and onto Gabumon's head, who was standing just below. His horn speared through the center. Gomamon groaned and grabbed his sensitive head.

Biyomon laughed, "Oh boy, you'd better watch that killer breath of your Patamon," Biyomon joked, pulling what resembled an orange out of one of the trees.

In another area of the forest, Mimi and Palmon were looking at mushrooms. "Those are bad mushrooms," Palmon told Mimi who was picking some. "You shouldn't pick them! They'll make you sick!"

Mimi quickly dropped it back on the ground. "I'd be in a big mess without you, Palmon, you're the best!"

Meanwhile, back at the beach, Sora, Tai, Matt, and Hotaru were surrounding a small circle of rocks and unlit kindling. "We're all set to cook dinner. Now all we need is the grub," Matt said.

"Great, but how are we supposed to light the fire?" Sora asked.

"My Amara-papa taught me how to light one using just two rocks last summer," Hotaru explained. "I could always try and light one,"

"You won't have to Hotaru," Agumon said. "I can do this," he blew on the kindling and a large fire took its place.

"Wow! That's much easier!" Hotaru laughed, probably the first real laugh anyone had heard since they met the girl.

Then Izzy and TK came running up, carrying a bunch of fishes on tree branches. "Hey, look it!" TK said excited.

"We caught a bunch of fish!" Izzy said, just as excited.

"Awesome! Let's eat 'em!" Tai said hungry as everyone took a fish. "This is where I wish we had a microwave," Tai said, trying to hold his fish over the flames, about to burn off his fingers.

"Me too because you're about to lose your fingers. Why don't you use a stick?" Matt asked, copying Hotaru and setting up a fish on a stick next to hers.

"How did you come up with that?" Tai asked.

"Because I'm the man!" Matt grinned.

"My Aunt Trista taught me," Hotaru said.

About five minutes later, everybody was surrounding the large fire and eating their dinner. Hotaru thought how amazing it was that the fish tasted so much like the ones Michelle-mama would help her catch, only better. Maybe because the water was cleaner here than back home.

"This is surprisingly good!" Tentomon said.

"Delicious!" Izzy declared.

"Matt, mom only lets me eat fish sticks," TK said worried.

"I won't tell," Matt said.

"I never eat with my fingers," TK insisted.

"TK, it's alright!" Matt cried, getting more and more frustrated with the kid.

"Yeah, you're hanging with the big boys now," Tai winked.

"Kay," TK said and went to eating.

After dinner, "Hey Joe, what are you looking at?" Sora asked, seeing Joe's fixed gaze on the stars above them.

"I'm trying to figure out which direction we've been going but the stars seemed to be all mixed up," Joe explained. "I haven't been able to find the North Star anywhere!"

Now that Joe mentioned it, Hotaru realized she couldn't see Saturn! Her home planet, her mother planet, where she drew her powers from! It wasn't anywhere Hotaru had always been able to see which planet was really Saturn, only by looking with her naked eyes. But now it was like gone, like it just disappeared! Hotaru clenched the pen in her pocket.

"You're forgetting your astronomy," Tai said. "If you can't see the North Star, then it must be on the other side of the world,"

"Do you think we could be in the Southern Hemisphere?" Sora asked.

"We can't be, how did we get hear without knowing," Hotaru said. "And I'm pretty sure digimon don't exist, or at least they shouldn't," but then again, who was she to talk. She'd fought monsters on a daily bases, although it had been years since she needed to transform.

"But it's always possible," Joe said. "That is, if we're still on Earth," Joe commented. Hotaru's insides froze. What if they really were on another planet? How would they get home? How could this planet have life when all the planet's life force in the milky way had been destroyed a thousand and more years ago.

Soon, everyone was starting to get tired. "Wait a second, I think we should take turns standing guard," Izzy said.

"Alright, who wants to go first?" Joe asked.

"How about each of us stands guard for about an hour," Tai suggested.

"Not TK," Matt said firmly.

"Aww, come on, me too!" TK complained.

"Hotaru shouldn't either," Sora said. Hotaru pouted, hating she was in a little girl's body right now.

"Both of you are too young and need your rest," Matt said as everybody piled into the trolley and found spots to rest, unconsciously sounding more like a dad than a big brother.

"I can't sleep with all of you here," Mimi complained.

"Quit complaining," Sora said annoyed. "So it's not perfect, just be glad we have a place to sleep,"

"That's right Mimi," Izzy agreed.

"Goodnight," Joe said.

"G-night everyone," Hotaru yawned, slumping over in her seat next to TK, feeling her eyes droop shut.

"Don't let the monochromon bite," TK joked, leaning into Hotaru to sleep.

"Thanks for reminding me," Sora huffed.

_"My feet still hurt," _Mimi thought.

_"Why is there a trolley here?" _was what Izzy was thinking. _"Maybe it's the aliens. Maybe they knew we needed it."_

_"I hope I don't get any monster cooties," _Joe thought huffing as he drifted off to sleep.

"Gabumon?" Matt asked quietly, seeing Hotaru and TK shivering on the other side of the trolley cart.

"Yeah?" Gabumon asked.

"Go over and lay down with my brother and his friend," Matt whispered.

"Why, Matt?" Gabumon asked curiously.

"Because your fur's making me sweat!" Matt lied. "Now, go!"

"Because you want me to keep the kiddies warm," Gabumon grinned.

"Hey, I didn't say that!" Matt protested but he did have a red tint on his cheeks as he blushed from embarrassment.

"You just don't want to admit it," Gabumon teased but went to snuggle between the two kids to warm there. Hotaru gave small smile as she tried to sleep and cuddled into her fur, feeling just as safe as she had at home.

"Thanks Matt," TK said quietly, drifting off to sleep. Matt turned away blushing. Hotaru sat up as she noticed Matt leaving and quietly followed, wondering where he was running off to. She was joined shortly by Tai and the two stood behind him as he sat by the lake.

"Why couldn't you sleep?" Tai asked curiously.

Matt looked way, "Look, I'm sorry about earlier," Matt apologized. "I didn't mean to get so mad. It's just being here and having to watch TK…" he trailed off.

"Do you guys even live in the same house?" Tai asked.

"Not anymore," Matt explained. "Our parents are divorced so we don't get to see each other much,"

"Well that explains a lot," Tai commented.

"Matt," Hotaru said quietly. "I may not understand much because I don't have a little sibling to take care of but I do have people I care about and would do anything to help. You see…at least you have your parents," Tai and Matt looked at her and she turned away. "I was adopted a few years ago. My birth mama died when I was a baby, she was hit by a car. My daddy was a scientist and was put into the hospital saving me when I was a little girl after an experiment blew up. He's still in the hospital but everything's over now. I have Amara-papa, and Michelle-mama and my Aunt Trista. And while they may also not be related by blood, I have six people I consider sisters (Serena, Amy, Raye, Mina, Lita, Rini) and I know I would do anything to take care of them and protect them. I wouldn't want any harm to come to them, and they're just as protective of me. We're all so different, from our looks to our ages to our personalities, but we all come together because of something that binds us together but that's a secret, I also couldn't be happier because I know I'll always have them, even if they're not physically hear right now, because we're family and that's just how family is. When you have no one to go to, you should always have the people you consider family around you and that always seems to make everyone okay and not so troubled." Hotaru explained, sounding a thousand years older than she really was, much too old for a nine year old girl, or as far as they knew. A few minutes of silence, Matt walked a little ways away and Hotaru could clearly hear the sounds of a sad song being played on a homonica.

Hotaru sat next to Tai at the fire and wrapped her arms around her legs. She wondered if the other scouts, her family, had noticed she was gone. Certainly they did and were probably looking for her right now.

Minutes of silence passed, and the island started to shake. Tai and Hotaru cried out surprised, and a large digimon that looked like a giant water snake came from the waters. Inside the trolley cart, everyone had woken up from the noise and shaking. "What's that horrible sound?" Sora cried.

"It's an earthquake!" Mimi wailed, clinging to her seat.

"The trolley's starting to move and I don't think it's taking us home!" true to Joe's words, the entire small part of the island was moving further into the large lake, leaving Matt and Gabumon who had followed Matt, behind on the second part of the island. Apparently, the island the trolley cart was part on was stuck to the digimon's tail and he didn't look happy about it.

"Oh no! Seadramon!" Tentomon cried as everyone piled out of the trolley.

"He's pulling us along by his tail. I don't even think he realizes we're here," Izzy realized.

"Perhaps not," Tentomon said. "He's a bit dense. As long as he doesn't see us, we should be safe,"

"Don't be too sure," Agumon said as Seadramon looked down at them.

"You guys jinxed us! Now he knows we're here!" Tentomon wailed as Seadramon pulled his tail from the island, leaving them in the center on the lake and nowhere to go unless they swum for it and they certainly wasn't going in with Seadramon swimming around. Hotaru ducked behind a large boulder and peeked out from behind it, holding her transformation pen close to her chest like a sort of comfort and familiarity.

Seadramon had returned and knocked Tai, Agumon, Izzy, and Tentomon off their feet. Hotaru just couldn't sit there and let them get knocked down. Hotaru raised her pen and said quietly so nobody would hear her, "Saturn Planet Power, make up!" A purple ray of light shined down on her and surrounded her body. She closed her eyes as the familiar warmth of power washed over her. Her muscles stretched as she grew taller. She looked just like she usually did, only with the body of a fourteen year old. A white leotard appeared and covered her chest. She twirled around as a purple mini-skirt appeared on her lower half. White silk gloves covered her hands and knee length purple boots covered her feet. More of the energy and magic washed over her face, putting makeup, purple eyeshadow and clear lip gloss, and Saturn shaped earrings, and a golden tiara with a purple stone in the center. A long black staff appeared in her hands as the light vanished and she made her appearance.

When she made her appearance, nobody seemed to noticed because they were paying attention to the fight. "Silent Wall!" Sailor Saturn shouted, blocking an attack from Seadramon.

"Who are you?!" Tai gasped, everyone seeing the teenaged girl standing on the boulder.

"I am known by many names," Hotaru said, sounding mysterious. "But in this form, my most common name is Sailor Saturn, a sailor guardian, the scout of death and rebirth and I am here to protect the innocent,"

"Sailor Saturn?" Sora asked. "I've heard of her, she's like a super hero just a few towns over. She used to be big, I used to watch the sailor scouts on TV when I was a kid although I never really saw one in real life. But then the sailor scouts stopped showing by the time I was TK's age,"

However, TK shortly fell into the water. Sailor Saturn put her staff on a holding on her back and dived after the little kid. She managed to bring TK up to the surface just as Matt managed to swim over, being a surprisingly good swimmer. Sailor Saturn placed TK's shivering body onto Gomamon who had followed and he took him to shore. Seadramon turned to Matt and Sailor Saturn growling. Sailor Saturn wasn't the best swimmer and was struggling to stay on top of the water but she did this quietly, not wanting the others to worry about her own problems.

Seadramon's tail came up from behind and wrapped around one of Matt's legs and around Saturn's, pulling the human children under the water. Hotaru held her breath, unable to do anything when she was in the water. Matt and Hotaru were lifted into the air, the tail wrapped around their bodies so they were back to back and Seadramon was wrapping tighter and tighter. They cried out in pain, finding it difficult to breathe.

"This is not good!" Tentomon cried from the island. "Seadramon may be a bubble brain but once he finds his prey, he won't let go!"

"Matt! Sailor Saturn! Hang on!" TK cried. "Patamon, please help them! Hit him with a bubble boom!"

Patamon sadly shook his head. "Seadramon's way too big. I just don't have enough power now. Gabumon, you're stronger, how about you?"

"You're right," Gabumon said. "Matt and that girl are in trouble and I must help!"

"Don't give up!" TK cried. "I'll find a way to save you if it's the last thing I do!"

Gabumon leaped into the water going after them, and Matt's digivice started to glow. "Gabumon digivolve to…Garurumon!" he transformed into a large white wolf. He managed to free Matt and Sailor Saturn from Seadramon and they fell into the water. Saturn struggled but managed to dog paddle to shore, following Matt.

Garururmon grabbed onto Seadramon with his teeth but Seadramon flipped him off with his tail and pushed him below the water. Sailor Saturn knew that Garururmon would be able to win this, she just had to believe he could, and Saturn hid behind the boulder while the children were distracted before shrinking back into nine year old Hotaru, and quietly joined the group.

When she got back, Garurumon attacked Seadramon who flew back in pain. "Garurumon's fur is legendary," Tentomon explained. "It's strong as steel. He's like a growling torpedo!"

"That's astonishing!" Izzy said amazed. "Then he must be invincible,"

"Well, that's what I've heard, anyway," Tentomon said. "We'll soon find out,"

"I hope you're not exaggerating, Tentomon, with another one of your wild fish tales again," Tai said but this time, it seemed like Tentomon was right on the mark.

"He could be," Agumon stated.

"But I heard about it!" Tentomon whined. Meanwhile, Seadramon was firing a blast of freezing air at Garurumon and froze the lake, Garurumon along with it. Hotaru looked worried and scared that the new friend wouldn't be able to make it.

"Seadramon's using his lethal ice blast!" Tentomon cried. But Garururmon managed to break his captive.

"Howling blaster!" he shouted and what looked like blue light exited Garurumon's mouth and attacked Seadramon. Garurumon won when Seadramon sunk under the lake defeated. The kids cheered as Garururmon transformed into Gabumon and climbed out of the lake.

"Gabumon!" Matt gave the widest grin Hotaru had ever seen him with.

"Flying's sure a good way to keep my fur dry," Gabumon smiled.

"You digivolved into Garurumon just in time!" Matt cheered.

"Gabumon, thanks for saving my brother and, hey…where did Sailor Saturn go?" TK asked, looking around.

"Oh um…I saw her leaving, she looked like she was in a hurry," Hotaru lied.

"Matt, you were so awesome against that monster!" TK continued.

"You think so?" Matt smiled pleased.

"You know, you're the man!" Gabumon smiled.

"And you're the wolf man!" Matt joked and everybody laughed.

"Okay, very funny," Joe said. "But how are we supposed to get back?"

"Just watch," Gomamon jumped into the water and a school of fish surrounded him, helping bring the island back over to the land.

"Actually," Izzy stated as they all gathered into the trolley. "There seems to be a pattern here. This time, only Gabumon could digivolve,"

"Yeah, Izzy's right," Sora realized this. "Agumon was the only one who could do it before,"

"I wonder why that is," Hataru said.

"You're right," Tai realized. "It's all beginning to make sense. Agumon digivolve when I was in danger,"

"That has to be the answer," Izzy said. "Our digimon digivolves when we're in trouble!"

"Wow that must be it!" Sora exclaimed. Mimi snored softly and fell against Sora. "Hey! Watch it!"

"Is it time to go to the mall?" Mimi mumbled in her sleep, her hat falling in her face.

Sora tried to push her off her without pushing her onto the floor. "We've been here one day and I think she's put some muscle on her,"

"Yeah, maybe if she puts in some effort, she'll have a hard bodied machine like I am," Agumon said. Hataru giggled, imagining what Mimi would look like.

"I hope she grows pink wings just like me," Biyomon said.

"You must be kidding," Mimi mumbled, going in and out of sleep. One by one, everyone fell asleep to the sounds of Matt's harmonica playing. A small smile played on Hotaru's lips as she drifted off to sleep.


End file.
